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A Month of Media Cheers for Anti-Capitalist Sit-In

The liberal media have spent the month of October enthusing over the left-wing “Occupy” protests, richly rewarding the anti-capitalist movement with the oxygen of national publicity. The broadcast networks, in particular, have boosted the protests as “growing” and “resonating,” and cast the participants as more than just a radical fringe group, but drawn “from all walks of life, young and old, male and female.”

The MRC has pulled together quotes showing these trends, as documented in the October 17 and October 31 editions of our Notable Quotables newsletter (available in full at www.MRC.org). The most obnoxious examples:

Occupy Wall Street = “The Protest of This Current Era”

“Good evening. We begin tonight with what has become by any measure a pretty massive protest movement. While it goes by the official name ‘Occupy Wall Street,’ it has spread steadily and far beyond Wall Street, and it could well turn out to be the protest of this current era.”
— Anchor Brian Williams leading off the October 5 NBC Nightly News.

Correspondent Cecilia Vega: “It is a crowd that grows daily in size and diversity. Today, thousands of union workers marched in solidarity in joining a common cause, blaming bank greed for the country’s economic woes....Observers of social history say the protesters’ growing presence could be a major issue in the coming presidential election year.”Fordham University Professor Heather Gautney: “If you can influence the conversation in the 2012 election, then you’ve done something pretty amazing.”
— ABC’s World News, October 5.

“We’re here, just a few blocks from Wall Street. I mean, this is really the epicenter of what seems to have become a national movement....The marchers come from all walks of life, young and old, male and female, hoping their lawmakers are listening.”
— Correspondent Bigad Shaban on CBS’s The Early Show, October 10.

“With little organization and a reliance on Facebook, Twitter and Google groups to share methods, the Occupy Wall Street campaign, as the prototype in New York is called, has clearly tapped into a deep vein of anger, experts in social movements said.”
— New York Times reporters Erik Eckholm and Timothy Williams, October 4.

“Back on September 17th, very few people had heard of the protest movement called Occupy Wall Street, but they did and they sure have since then....Even though this protest doesn’t look the same or take the same shape exactly any two days in a row, it’s on the move. The players change. But the center of the message is increasingly resonating. The crowds tell us that. Now the polls tell us that.”
— Brian Williams on the October 13 Nightly News.

Anchor Scott Pelley: “The protesters claim that they represent 99 percent of Americans against the wealthiest one percent. In Los Angeles, Bill Whitaker is finding protesters from nearly every walk of life....”Correspondent Bill Whitaker: “Some people are unemployed; there are students who can’t pay back student loans, people who need health insurance. But what unites them is a frustration, even anger, over an economic system they see as stacked against them....”
— CBS Evening News, October 14.

So Popular, It’s Spread to “More Than 1,000 Countries”

“We thought we’d bring you up to date on those protesters, the Occupy Wall Street movement. As of tonight, it has spread to more than 250 American cities, more than a thousand countries — every continent but Antarctica.”
— Diane Sawyer on ABC’s World News, October 10. On a later edition, Sawyer corrected her still-absurd hype: “...more than a thousand cities around the world.”

Radical Protesters Giving Lessons on “Civil Discourse”

Co-host Matt Lauer: “What’s the civics lesson in this for our kids as they’re watching this on TV?”
Correspondent Natalie Morales: “Well, I think there — as a parent, there’s a huge civics lesson, and it teaches, you know, what is important about this. What are — I think you have to ask the questions, ‘What are they there for, what are the reasons behind this?’ And I think the idea of having that civil discourse is important to teach our kids and it’s something in history we’ve seen....”
— Exchange on NBC’s Today, October 21.

vs.

“The Jews commit more white collar crime than any other ethnic group on the earth, and they go unprosecuted because they can buy their way out of it....Whenever there’s a billion dollar fraud, there’s a Jew involved.”
— Rant by unnamed “Occupy Wall Street” protester captured by MRC-TV’s cameras, October 21.

Just a Cheerful Village Filled With Cookies, Bagels and Yoga

“This is a surprisingly functional little city. Let me give you a little tour. It starts here with the information desk for people newly arrived. Behind that this whole area back here, this is the media area. It’s filled with bloggers and other people getting the word out and powered by donated generators. And this is the food station. It’s all free and all donated — including some cookies that came in today from a grandmother in Idaho.”
— ABC’s Dan Harris showing off the protesters’ camp on World News, October 3.

“What began as protest has morphed into a self-operating mini-community in lower Manhattan, with a complimentary breakfast buffet of fresh fruits and bagels. Twenty-nine-year-old Amy Hamburger manages the meals. She’s an out-of-work teacher’s aide who’s been here from the start — 25 days and counting — with food donations from around the world....The 1960s feel of music and dance brought her in. But it’s the deep frustration over the economy, she says, that’s kept her here.”
— CBS correspondent Bigad Shaban on The Early Show, October 11.

“Peril” for Republicans If They Ignore Left-Wing Protests?

“There are people in the streets, here in New York,...in other cities around the country and around the world. Does the Republican Party, if they ignore the Occupy Wall Street group, do they do so at their own peril?”
— Co-host Matt Lauer to real estate developer Donald Trump on NBC’s Today, October 19.

Amazing — As Protests “Grow,” Number of Cities Shrinks

“As the movement enters its fourth week, it continues to pick up strong support from coast to coast. The protests that started on New York’s Wall Street is now in more than 250 cities around the country.”
— Correspondent Cecilia Vega on ABC’s Good Morning America, October 10.

“Almost one month in, the Occupy Wall Street protests are growing in number and intensity, thousands taking to the streets in at least 190 cities nationwide....”
— Reporter Mara Schiavocampo on the October 13 NBC Nightly News.

“Those protests against Wall Street are continuing into the weekend all over the country in 103 cities and in 36 states. We have correspondents tonight at three of those protests....”
— Anchor Scott Pelley on the CBS Evening News, October 14.

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